>-v 






NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS. 



REPORT 



OF THE 




lAL Committee of the Assembly 



ON THE 



STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS. 



TRANSMITTED TO THE ASSEMBLY, MAY 19 1879. 



ALBANY: 

WEED, PARSOKS AN'D COMPANY, PRINTERS. 
1879. 



NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS. 



REPORT 



/U-*-*-^ -^ -"/ ^^ ) X^^^:^. i>i<.^:^'^'^^'^^ . 




lAL ComnEE OF THE ASSEMBLY 



STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS. 



TRANSMITTP]D TO THE ASSEMBLY, MAY 19, 1879. 



( Being Assembly Document No. 152. ) 



ALBANY: 

WEED, PARSON'S AN"D COMPANY, PRINTERS. 
1879. 



.^ 



REPORT. 



To THE Assembly : 

The undersigned, the special committee appointed pursuant to a 
resolution passed January 28, 1878, to consider and report whether 
the State normal schools are fulfilling their original purpose, and 
what, if any, further legislation is necessar}^ to increase their useful- 
ness, and concerning the equities which the localities where the nor- 
mal schools are situated claim to have, in regard to academic depart- 
ments connected with such schools, submit the following report : 

The purpose for which the normal schools were established, is 
shown in their name ; in the acts under which they were established, 
and by that part of the history of education in this State, which has 
a bearing upon the subject. 

Whatever may have been the original significance of the name 
normal school, it had come to have a well-defined meaning long 
before it was first used in our State legislature. A normal school 
was then and is now understood to mean one designed to prepare 
teachers for the profession of teaching. Such schools are based upon 
the fact that special preparatory training for teachers is essential 
in order to secure the best results from common schools. 

The schools under consideration are not only normal schools, but 
State normal schools, thereby indicating that they constitute a part 
of our State system of public instruction ; that they a;re supported 
by the State in order to promote the efficiency of the State schools ; 
and that they are intended to furnish better teachers, more enlight- 
ened methods of instruction, and results more in keeping with the 
progress made in other forms of social and industrial life. 

The first of our State normal schools was established under an 
act, passed May 7, 1844, entitled, " An act for the establishment of 
a normal school." The purpose for which this was done is ex- 
pressed in the first section of that act, in the following words : 



" For the instruction and practice of teachers of common schools 
in the science of education and in the art of teaching." 

This school was to be located in the county of Albany, and to be 
under the supervision of the superintendent of common schools, 
and tlie regents of the university. By this act provision was made 
for the annual payment of ten thousand dollars during a period of 
five years for the maintenance of the school. Afterward the ap- 
propriation was continued and increased. The need of more nor- 
mal schools was soon felt, and in 1866 (chapter 466), an act was 
passed providing for the establishment of four other " normal and 
training schools for the education and discipline of teachers for the 
common schools of this State." Under this act the Brockport, Cort- 
land, Fredonia and Potsdam normal schools came into existence. 
Subsequently and under the general provisions of the same act, three 
others were added, namely, those at Buffalo, Geneseo and Oswego. 
The school at Oswego grew out of one founded in 1861, by the city 
of Oswego, for the training of primary teachers for that city. In 
1863 the legislature provided for an annual appropriation of three 
thousand dollars during ten years, for that school, conditioned upon 
the free tuition of not less than fifty teachers for the common schools 
of the State at large. In 1865 this sum was doubled on condition 
that the city of Oswego should provide a suitable building for the 
school. In 1867 this school also became to the full extent a State 
normal school, under the provisions of the act of 1866 above referred 
to. These eight are all the State normal schools yet established. 

The mind or purpose of the State in respect to them is evident 
also from the history of the process which resulted in their 
establishment. From a very early period in the history of the 
State, our governors and others, especially those having educa- 
tional interests in charge, have had great solicitude in respect to 
the qualification of teachers for the common schools. They 
have seen the deficiency, and the necessity for some remedy. 
It is worth while to note the development of the normal school 
idea as indicated by annual messages of our State governors, to the 
legislature. In nothing have these governors better vindicated the 
wisdom of the people in their election, than by their noble and 
statesmanlike utterances in behalf of popular education. We shall 
observe continued progress both toward a clear conception of the 
evils to be corrected and the remedy to be applied. What was at 
first scarcely more than a feeling of want was in time developed 
into a comprehensive plan for meeting the necessities of the case. 



Beginning with the present century, we find Governor John Jay, 
in his annual message to the legislature in 1800, earnestly recom- 
mending to the " notice and patronage " of the legislature, " our 
institutions for the education of youth." He then adds : " The 
importance of common schools is best estimated by the good effects 
of them where they most abound and are hest regulated. '''' 

In 1804: Governor Morgan Lewis says : ^* Common schools, under 
the guidance of respectable teachers^ should be established in every 
village.'' 

In 1818 Governor DeWitt Clinton recommended the establish- 
ment of Lancasterian schools for the education of teachers for the 
common schools^ as " combination of economy in expense and rapid- 
ity of instruction." This system, lie says, operates in education 
as " labor-saving machines in the useful arts," by enabling the 
teacher to do more and better work in a given time. 

This Lancasterian system was founded by one Joseph Lancaster, a 
Quaker from England, who had a genius for teaching as Governor 
DeWitt Clinton had for statesmanship. After seeing his schools estab- 
lished in Enajland, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, and in parts of 
Asia and Africa, Lancaster came to this country for the purpose of in- 
troducing them. Suffice it to say in this connection that his ideas con- 
tained the germs of what are now known as normal schools, as may 
appear from the following quotation from a little book written by 
himself "Teachers," he says, "need first a knowledge of the 
theory of the system ; secondly, asocial, firm, kind manner of acting 
upon it, including the operation of their own good principles and 
character ; thirdly, a practical acqnaintance with the system, so as to 
have all its parts ready at the moment of application. Now the 
theory may be soon acquired from its great simplicity," (a fuller de- 
velopment of the theory has shown that even this is both complex 
and difficult), " but is the acquisition of theory sufficient for the 
attainment of any art or science ? Do men learn to be good 
mechanics, designers, engineers or chemists by mere theory or six 
weeks' observation ? If not, why is the most important office of 
teacher to be filled by men who spend less time in acquiring the prin- 
ciples of tuition than women spend in learning to make straw 
bonnets ? " He also recognized the fact that instruction is sometime 
given in a manner "against the very grain of nature" and sought 
to adapt the manner of instruction to the grain of nature. These 
are the germinal principles of normal schools. To secure the ben- 



6 

efits of a system founded upon those principles was the object of 
the foregoing recommendation by Governor Clinton. 

Again in 1825, Governor Clinton in his annual message to the 
legislature recommended " the education of competent teachers on 
the monitorial (or Lancasterian)plan." Again in his annual message 
to the legislature in 1826, he recommended that ^'a seminary for the 
education of teachers be established for the purpose of providing 
qualified teachers for the schools." In his annual message in 1827, 
after speaking of the condition of education, he says : " It is, how- 
ever, too palpable that our system (of education) is surrounded by 
imperfections. In the first place there is no provision made for the 
education of competent instructors. Of the 8,000 now employed 
in this State, too many are destitute of the requisite qualifications , 
Perhaps one-fourth of our population is annually instructed in our 
common schools ; and should the minds and morals of the rising, 
and perhaps the destiny of all coming generations, be intrusted to 
the guardianship of incompetency ? The scale of instruction must 
be elevated ; the standard of education ought to be raised, and a 
central school on the monitorial plan ought to be established in 
each county for the education of teachers^ and as exemplars for 
other momentous purposes connected with the improvement of the 
human mind." 

Again, in 1828, in his last annual message to the legislature. 
Governor Clinton speaks of the common school system as being 
" without those improvements which are requisite to raise the 
standard of instruction, to enlarge its objects, and to elevate the 
talents and qualifications of the teachers." In the same connection 
he says : '' It may be taken for granted that the education of 
the body of the people can never attain the requisite perfec- 
tion without competent instructors, well acquainted with the 
outlines of literature and the elements of science." He then 
recommends a law " authorizing the supervisors of each county 
to raise a sum not exceeding $2,000, provided the same sum 
is subscribed by individuals, for the erection of a suitable edifice 
for a monitorial high school in the county town," and says, ^' I can 
conceive no reasonable objection to the adoption of a measure so 
well calculated to raise the character of our school-mastiers, and to 
double the power of our artisans, by giving them a scientific edu- 
cation." 

In 1830 Governor Throop, in his annual message, says : " The 
want of competent teachers is one that has always been experienced, 



and still exists. To devise a remedy is well worthy of further 
eflforts. The course of education might be advantageously varied 
under competent teachers by introducing among the early studies of 
children those elements of natural science which are easily appre- 
hended by means of sensible illustrations, and which impart a 
knowledge of things useful in agricultural and mechanical pur- 
suits." Plere is a valuable suggestion as to the proper scope of 
common-school education, and one which the normal schools are 
acting upon. 

In 1833 Governor Marcy says : " One of the most obvious im- 
provements in relation to common schools would be a plan for sup- 
plying them with competent teachers." Again, in 1835, he 
mentions first among the special subjects in relation to common 
schools to which he was anxious that the attention of the legislature 
should be particularly directed, " A provision for supplying com- 
petent teachers, and improvements in the method of instruction." 
In 1836 he says: "The difficulty of snpplying the common 
schools with competent teachers has presented the greatest obstacle 
to the complete success of our system " (of public instruction). 
In 1837 he says : " The importance of providing competent 
teachers, and the embarrassments under which the system has 
hitherto labored for the want of them, must, I think, commend to 
your favorable regard the suggestion of devoting a part of this 
income to institutions designed to supply this deficiency." 

In his next and last annual message Governor Marcy says: " Our 
common school system still labors under embarrassments arising 
from an inadeqnate supply of well -qualified teachers ; our colleges 
and academies have heretofore been relied on to supply, to a con- 
siderable extent, this deficiency, but it has been quite evident for 
some time that further provision ought to be made by legislative 
authority to satisfy the public wants in this respect." " The depart- 
ment, for educating common-school teachers, erected under the 
patronage of the State, in eight of the academies, have been in 
operation about two years, and the last reports from them pre- 
sent favorable results. Tlie number of students attending them 
is steadily increasing ; they are resorted to as sources for supplying 
the demand for teachers, and the services of tliose instructed in 
them are on that account considered more valuable, and readily 
command a high rate of compensation. But no success attending 
those already established will make them competent to supply 
in any considerable degree the demand for teachers ; it has 



8 

therefore been proposed to increase the number of such depart- 
ments in each senate district of the State, by devoting to that 
purpose a portion of the income to be derived from the 
deposits of the public moneys. It is well worthy your con- 
sideration, whether still tetter results r)iight not he obtained hy 
county normal schools established and maintained on principles 
analogous to those on which our system of common schools is 
founded. If the people were fully sensible how much the useful- 
ness of our common schools would be increased by being generally 
furnished with competent instructors, it is presumed they would 
cheerfully contribute the means required to secure this advantage. 
Though there are conceded difficulties in the w^ay of procuring an 
adequate supply of those instructors, yet the cause of education is 
so deeply interested in having it done to the utmost practicable 
extent, that you will doubtless regard it as an object every way 
deserving of your consideration." The above is the first reference 
to normal schools under that name, so far as the committee have 
observed. 

This recommendation of countj^ normal schools embraced two 
elements that must enter into any successful effort to provide quali- 
fied teachers for the common schools. The first is the establish- 
ment of schools devoted to the culture and training of teachers — 
professional schools. The second is the general diffusion of them 
throughout the State. Both of those ideas were involved, also, in 
the recommendation made by Governor Clinton in 1827. Each 
sought to pl^ce professional schools within the reach of all. In 
the following year Gov. Seward, after setting forth in words to be 
quoted hereafter, the true spirit and scope and legitimate results of 
the education to be sought in all our schools, even the lowest, recom- 
mends the adoption of such further legislation as might be necessary 
in order to engraft the normal school system upon the academies. 

It was not, however, until 1844 that New York established her 
first normal school. So far as the committee are aware, this was 
the first purely professional school for teachers established by the 
State upon any thing like a reliable and efficient basis. It had 
already been done by Massachusetts and many European countries, 
especially Germany. For forty years the State of New York had 
been urged by men of her own choice — a long line of illustrious 
chief magistrates — to make provision for this fundamental necessity 
of her school system, namely, a supply of qualified teachers. To 
make this beginning even, required the wide wisdom and persistent 



energy of Geo. Clinton, John Jay, Morgan Lewis, Daniel D. 
Tompkins, DeWitt Clinton, Enos T. Throop, William L. Marcy, 
William H. Seward and others. During these forty years they, 
with others, had been engaged in carrying forward a policy of 
internal improvements whereby the material resources of the State 
were to be developed. They saw that a policy of internal improve- 
ment, that did not include the people themselves, was radically and 
fatally defective. Hence, while improving the means of inter- 
communication, they were also solicitous about securing means of 
developing the infinitely higher wealth of intelligence and character. 

Although successive legislatures had been urged to establish pro- 
fessional schools under different names, " Lancasterian schools for 
teachers," '' seminaries for the instruction of teachers," and "county 
normal schools," yet they seemed very slow to see the necessity of 
doing so. They tried to find some shorter road, some more economi- 
cal way to reach the same result. Hence, $150,000 was added 
to the literature fund in order to increase the efiSciency of the 
academies. For the purposes of general education this was wisely 
done, but it did not meet the specific want. In 1835 another experi- 
ment was tried, provision being made for engrafting a teachers' 
department upon one academy in each of the Senate districts, then 
eight in number, afterward twice as many, and with increased appro- 
priations. This was doubtless a step in the right direction, and 
benefit resulted from it. Here was more than a teachers' class 
taught during one-third of a year. It was a department maintained 
throughout the year. Some foresaw and foretold the result of this 
effort to solve the problem, but it was considered worthy at least 
of a fair trial. It seemed to be economical. Its advantages could 
be diffused throughout the State. Upon the trial, however, these 
teachers' departments proved to be subordinate to the general 
scheme of academic instruction. They were an incident. They 
seem never to have become a vital, governing force in the acade- 
mies to which they were attached. 

Yery much good was undoubtedly accomplished by them, and 
yet as a substitute for professional schools they seem not to have 
been successful. Hence the necessity of beginning again upon the 
more substantial basis which had been specifically recommended by 
Governors Clinton and Marcy, and which was in harmony with the 
other recommendations which we have cited, and in opposition to 
which we found no recommendation or suggestion. This first nor- 
2 



10 

mal school was soon found to be but the beginning and not the 
completion of the normal -school system. The work of raising the 
standard of teaching in the common schools of the State was aided 
from time to time by teachers' classes, teachers' institutes and teach- 
ers' associations; all helping to awaken an interest in the subject, 
and to improve the methods of teaching. These auxiliaries were 
useful for inspiration and suggestion, but inadequate to meet the 
demand for patient, sustained and continued discipline and training. 

The committee desire very briefly to indicate the line of thought 
and effort leading to the establishment of other State normal schools, 
in order to ascertain more fully the purpose for which these schools 
are maintained, and to show^ the vitality and gradual development 
of that purpose. 

In 1847 Governor Young says: "The State normal school con- 
tinues to advance in public estimation and public usefulness. Its 
only object is to improve the teachers of the common schools." In 
1848 he says : " The practical importance of the State normal school 
for the education of teachers is beginning to be felt." 

In 1849 Governor Fish, speaking of the normal school, says : 
" This school is doing a great and good work. It has ceased to be 
an experiment." In 1850 he says : "The benefits resulting from 
this institution are fully justifying the warmest anticipations of its 
friends, and are making themselves manifest in the improvement 
already effected among the teachers of the common schools." In 
1851, Governor Hunt says: "It is contributing largely to the 
progress of popular education," and " it is of the highest importance 
that this institution should continue to receive an ample support." 

The value of this normal school having been demonstrated by 
experience, the need of more of them in the great State of New 
York was naturally felt and hence in 1865 Governor Fenton says : 
" The propriety of making more ample provisions for an annual 
supply of more thoroughly qualified teachers is suggested. Credit- 
able provision for this purpose has already been made in the normal 
school teachers' classes, in the academies, teachers' institutes and the 
Oswego training school for primary teachers ; but these as now sup- 
ported are manifestly inadequate to supply so great a demand." 
Again in 1866, speaking of the above agencies, he says : " It is 
suggested tliat the institutions are not adequate to the wants of the 
schools, which require more than 20,000 teachers annually and that 
their increase is dem,anded by considerations of economy and of 
duty to those whose love of knowledge and progress in virtue are 



11 

so largely dependent upon the zeal, ability and training of their in- 
structors. I therefore suggest to you the propriety of establishing 
other normal and training schools, and of giving additional facili- 
ties and support to those already in operation." 

In 1867 he says : " The advantages drawn from the two normal 
scliools already established and the conceded w^ant of a greater num- 
ber of thoroughly qualified teachers induced the last legislature to 
appoint a commission to invite proposals for the establishment of 
four more such schools. The commission received applications from 
various localities, making most liberal offers of land, buildings, all 
necessary furniture and apparatus, or their equivalent in money, 
and upon full consideration, Potsdam, Cortland, Brockport and 
Fredonia were selected. The commission being impressed by the 
public spirit manifested in generous offers from so many places, and 
by the interest so generally felt in the special preparation of teach- 
ers for their work, adopted the following preamble and resolution : 

'' Whereas, It is manifest to this commission that the number of 
tlie normal scliools authorized by chapter 4:(SQ^ of the Laws of 1866, 
is entirely inadequate to the public requirement ; and whereas, 
liberal proposals have been made in various portions of the State 
for a number of schools more nearly adequate to the public wants, 
therefore, 

Hesolved, That we earnestly recommend to the legislature to au- 
thorize the designation of location of six additional schools, on the 
same terms and conditions as in the act above cited." 

In the following year he says : " The establishment of two 
additional normal schools has been authorized by law, one at Buf- 
falo and one at Geneseo. The liberality and public spirit of the 
people of these places will not fail to consummate an enterprise of 
so much local and general importance." 

What, therefore, ISTew York expects from her normal schools is 
apparent from their name, from the acts under which they w^ere 
established, and from an outline of the educational movement lead- 
ing to their establishment. New York recognized the fact that 
her schools are what the teachers make them ; that no expen- 
ditures however liberal for school-houses and all the appurtenances 
thereunto belonging can make a good school ; that the supreme 
need is that of knowledge, culture and skill in her teachers. For 
the purpose of securing this the normal schools were created and 
are maintained. 

The foregoing shows not only what the purpose is, but 



12 

also how deeply rooted it is in the policy of the State. It also 
shows that the present normal schools are the fruitage of a growth 
running back to the beginning of the century. No present discussion 
in regard to these schools can properly leave out of account this his- 
toric developnielit. 
The next inquiry is : 

ARE THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS FULFILLING THE PURPOSE 
FOR WHICH THEY WERE CREATED ? 

This question could be intelligently answered only by a personal 
inspection of the schools. The committee have therefore visited 
each of the normal schools of the State ; they also accepted an 
invitation to visit the Kormal College of the City of Kew York. 
The committee sought to ascertain both what is common to them 
all and the individual character and distinguishing features of each. 
In making their examinations they exercised the utmost freedom, 
bringing themselves so far as possible into personal contact with 
teachers and pupils, in order to understand the spirit and purpose 
of their work as well as its results. They observed the schools both 
when assembled in chapel and then distributed into classes, observ- 
ing the bearing of each and the manner of conducting the exercises, 
and at the close of the day they met the faculties and in most<jases 
the local boards, in order that the fullest opportunity for question- 
ing and conference might be afforded. At these interviews every 
teacher and department were subjected to the test involved in the 
purpose for which they were established. In the examination the 
question kept constantly in view was not merely are they good 
schools ; but are they good normal schools ? Are they honestly 
and intelligently devoting themselves to the culture and training of 
teachers for the public schools ? This has been the principle guid- 
ing the committee in all its examinations. The work was greatly 
facilitated by the readiness with which all concerned responded to, 
and aided their efforts, none shrinking from the most severe and 
searching inquiries which the committee were able to make. 

Each of the normal schools has very much in common with all 
the rest. They are conducted according to the same general ideas, 
and upon very similar plans, and though there are diversities of opera- 
tion in some respects, unity of spirit and general method prevails. 
This general agreement enabled the committee to arrive at more sat- 
isfactory conclusions, because the examination of each shed addi- 
tional light upon all the others. 



13 

The committee were everywhere impressed with the excellent 
demeanor of the pupils ; all seem to have learned the tirst essential 
to good teaching, viz.: how to govern themselves. The high 
moral sense of the pupils seems to have secured good order and 
earnest work. In all the schools, except that at Albany, the pupils, 
wdien not otherwise engaged, sit in the chapel with no teacher 
in attendance merely to maintain order. A pupil who cannot 
be trusted, ought not to be and is not tolerated in any of the 
schools, and so far as the committee could see, and they had good 
opportunity to observe, the pupils in all the schools, without ex- 
ception, are characterized by high self respect and earnest fidelity. 
The deportment of pupils, in every exercise, evinced the same 
spirit. 

All the principals and faculties of the several schools impressed 
us as being faithful and competent teachers, earnestly devoting 
their energies to the improvement of the public schools. That they 
are doing an exceedingly valuable w'ork for the State, we think 
admits of no doubt. 

The general purpose of the schools involves four specific objects, 
viz. : 

First. Culture of pupils — physical, intellectual and moral. 

Second. Knowledge of subjects. 

Third. Instruction in methods of teaching. 

Fourth. Actual practice in methods taught. 

With these things in mind, the '' Departments," so-called, and 
operation of the schools, may be easily understood. In them all 
are what correspond to the following, viz. : 

Normal Departments. 

Intermediate Departments. 

Primary Departments. 

As the term normal school is equivalent in our educational par- 
lance to what has been called a " seminary for the instruction of 
teachers," we think it unfortunate, because misleading, to designate 
any part of the school as a '•' normal department," implying, as it 
seemingly does, that the other departments do not legitimately 
belong to the school ; that they are, to some extent, foreign to it, 
instead of being, as they actually are, proper and efficient parts of 
it, as necessary as practice is to the learning of any art. This will 
more fully appear after calling attention to the various kinds of 
work done in the schools. 

In some of the rooms the committee found the teachers engaged 



14 

in hearing classes in the subjects commonly taught in our public 
schools, and in those designed to give the pupils general culture and 
lay the foundation for special professional training. In others, 
histruction was being given in the science of teaching and in all 
that pertains to the proper organization, government and conduct 
of a scliool. All this belongs to what has been called the Normal 
Department. The ends there sought being knowledge of subjects, 
general culture, and a correct theory of teaching ; that is, one that 
is both philosophical and practical, in the highest sense practical be- 
cause in the truest sense philosophical. 

In this department, however, there is no opportunity to test theo- 
ries, to illustrate, vivify and really appropriate correct methods of 
school work. Hence the need of a training dej)artment which is 
simply a place for putting in practice and more fully developing the 
theories that have been taught. The practice or training depart- 
ment-is usually divided into the primary and intermediate depart- 
ments according to the age and advancement of the pupils. These 
pupils come in from localities where the schools are situated. 
Their ages range, say from six to sixteen years. They are repre- 
sentatives of the various grades which the normal pupils will be 
called upon to teach when they go out into the public schools of 
the State. These primary and intermediate pupils are classified 
by, or under, the direction of the expert teachers, and wdien so 
classified they are instructed by the normal pupils, under the same 
supervision. 

In all the schools we found normal scholars teaching these pri- 
mary and more advanced or intermediate classes, thus putting into 
practical operation the theories of teaching under the supervision 
of the normal teachers and critics. Sometimes other normal 
pupils observe the teaching as done by one of their own number, 
and in this way we found recitations going on at the same time in 
different rooms in reading, spelling, arithmetic, grammar and geog- 
raphy, some of the normal scholars having charge for the time 
being of each class. After that, and usually near the close of the 
day, these pupils who have been acting as teachers, as well as those 
who have been '' observing," meet, and one of the normal critics 
who has been watching their work during the day, reviews it, point- 
ing out and explaining not only the errors, but the excellencies 
observed. In addition the pupil-teachers question and are ques- 
tioned as to what is well or ill done, and suggestions are made by 
way of improvement. 



15 

The committee were very deeply impressed with the great value 
of this exercise, affording an opportunity as it does for looking at 
the matter in hand from a variety of standpoints ; for the correc- 
tion of errors before they harden into habits. By it, also, excellen- 
cies are ascertained and developed, and professional zeal is awak- 
ened, given principles of teaching are tested, corrected and 
exemplified. Without it the abstract instruction elsewhere given 
in the "Science of Education and the Art of Teaching," would 
necessarily lose much of its value. No one would think of learn- 
ing any otlier art Avithout trying to practice it, and that, too, with 
one wdio had already learned it. In all the schools except that at 
Albany we found ample material afforded for this work in the large 
attendance of scholars in the intermediate and primary divisions, 
from the respective localities, and at Albany we were glad to see 
that, recognizing its importance, efforts were being made by the 
teachers having this matter in charge for increasing the number in 
these divisions. 

The foregoing statements will perhaps make it sufficiently evi- 
dent that these different departments, so-called, are all essential to 
the completeness of any scheme of Normal school instruction. The 
committee arc of the opinion that no part of the same can be wisely 
dispensed with. The same normal school system under somewhat 
different names is adopted in other States. 

In all their departments, the work seems to be carried on under 
the influence of one governing purpose, namel}^, that of preparing 
the students to teach well. That these schools derive their forma- 
tive and distinctive character from that purpose, cannot be doubted. 
It is reasonable to expect that they will be increasingly successful 
in accomplishing it. 

If the normal schools could find the requisite number of pupils 
who had already attained the first two objects sought, viz. : general 
culture and knowledge of subjects, before entering the normal 
school, they might, and doubtless would, devote themselves more 
fully to the directly professional work expressed in the last two 
objects above named, viz., instruction in methods and actual prac- 
tice in methods taught. The testimony of all the schools, however, 
is that the pupils seeking admission do not possess such thorough- 
ness of knowledge and such a degree of culture as would justify 
the exclusion of all but purely professional work. It may well be 
doubted whether such exclusion would be practicable under any 
circumstances. It will be borne in mind that those pupils only are 



16 

admitted who have been appointed by the State superintendent of 
public instruction, upon the recommendation of the several school 
commissioners, or city superintendents of the localities where they 
reside. Hence it will be seen that the State and the several cities 
and counties, through their proper representatives, decide who shall 
be admitted to these State schools, subject to an examination by 
the normal faculties. It is designed to admit only those who have 
" good health, good moral character, average ability, and who are 
able to pass a fair examination in reading, spelling, geograph}^, 
arithmetic (as far as the roots), and be able to analyze and parse 
simple sentences." But it is found impracticable to adhere strictly 
even to this standard. It is undoubtedly true that the pupils who 
actually come for admission require much thorough instruction in 
the subjects themselves, as well as in the way to teach them. There 
must be much more discipline than the pupil generally has before 
entering upon the normal course, in order to enable him to com- 
prehend the principles of the science and art of teaching, and, above 
all, to become in himself what the teacher, especially of children, 
ought to be. 

We have had and shall have much to say about the art of teach- 
ing. To avoid misunderstanding we wish to add that we do not 
mean the learning of any set rules, nor any amount of mere facility 
in going through the round of school duties, although thei^e are 
ways of doing some things which are so obviously the correct ones 
that they come to have the force of rules. Teaching doubtless has 
its technics. At the same time it must never be forgotten that it 
is one human spirit working upon other human spirits, awakening 
and directing thought, evolving power, forming habits, shaping 
character, and helping to determine the motive and the result of all 
subsequent life. 

The committee sought to ascertain whether or not the prelimi- 
nary work is so conducted as to be also instruction in teaching. 
They found that here as elsewhere, the pupil is considered as the 
future teacher ; that " every teacher in the normal school is ex- 
pected to be by example and precept a teacher of didactics.' ' 

By law each county of the State is entitled to twice as many 
pupils in each of the normal and training schools as it has repre- 
sentatives in the assembly. The committee could not learn that 
any county had been refused its due representation in any of the 
schools. Of course the number in attendance from the several 
counties in any given school is determined mainly by the relative 



IT 

distance. For example, many of the remote counties would be 
likely to be unrepresented at the Buffalo or Potsdam schools, while 
the counties of Erie and St. Lawrence, and those adjacent would 
send pupils to fill the vacancies. The representation of counties 
in the several schools was found to correspond very nearly with 
what might be expected from their geographical positions, both 
with reference to each other and to the State at large. The fol- 
lowing is the number of counties represented in each of the schools 
at the time of the committee's visit, viz : 

Albany 40 Fredonia o . . . . 8 

Brockport 33 Geneseo IT 

Buffalo 6 Potsdam 10 

Cortland 21 Oswego 32 

The committee also found that all pupils on entering the normal 
schools are required to sign a declaration in writing that their ob- 
ject in coming to the school is to prepare themselves to teach in 
the public schools of the State, and that they intend to teach in 
those schools. 

On the part of the pupils, there is a manifest earnestness in their 
work and every indication that they are faithfully fulfilling and in- 
tending to fulfill "their part of the contract." We think no one 
could visit these schools in their various branches and departments, 
examine the work and those who do it, conversing with teachers 
and pupils in regard to what they are doing and the purpose for 
which they are doing it, without coming to the conclusion that they 
are in full sympathy with the State in this effort to secure compe- 
tent teachers for the public schools. We used all the means at 
command for ascertaining the facts bearing on this matter, and were 
led to believe that upward of ninety per cent of the pupils, who 
have gone out from the normal schools of the State, have engaged 
in teaching ; that some of the remainder have been prevented by 
sufiicient reasons, and instances of intentional violation of the obli- 
gation assumed on entering the schools are very rare indeed. 

Our examination showed that a large number of students now in 
the normal schools had already entered upon the profession of 
teaching and had thus practically discovered deficiencies in their 
qualifications which they sought to remedy at the normal schools. 
Very many also, who had never taught previous to their entrance 
as pupils at the normal schools, have alternated teaching in the 
schools outside with study and training at the normals, using the 
3 



18 

one to furnish means for the continued prosecution of the other. 
We incline to recommend such alternation, even if it were not a 
necessity. These pupils have an earnest enthusiasm in their v^^ork, 
and we believe the State has much to gain from its liberality in 
aiding them thus to qualify for the profession of teaching. The 
examination of the several normal schools developed the following 
additional facts : Each of the normal schools has a classical course 
of study except that at Albany. These courses embrace Latin, 
Greek, German and French in most of the schools. While it is 
deemed desirable by the faculties that each graduate should have 
some acquaintance with them, yet in respect to most of those 
languages, their pursuit is optional, rather than obligatory. About 
thirty-five per cent of the pupils avail themselves of the opportun- 
ity to study one or more of those languages. 

Since their organization the schools have been growing in im- 
portance and influence, and in the attendance upon them. The 
average attendance upon each of them during the first five years 
since the organization was two hundred and nine (209). Dur- 
ing the last five years it was two hundred and ninety-one (291.) 
When we consider that the first five years were during a period 
of business prosperity and that the last five years have been times 
of depression in every branch of industry, the committee believe 
that the condition and prospects of the normal schools are decidedly 
encouraging. From twenty-five to thirty per cent of all the nor- 
mal pupils complete the prescribed course and graduate. The 
remainder pursue from one-half to three-fourths of the pre- 
scribed course, according to their necessities or peculiar circum- 
stances. While it is desirable that every student should complete 
the course, the committee are glad to be able to state that the 
schools are so conducted that every portion of their instruction is 
of benefit to the pupil in preparing for teaching, increasingly so in 
proportion as opportunity is extended. 

At the time of the examination of the schools there was an aggre- 
gate attendance of about seventeen hundred and fift}^ normal pupils, 
in addition to two hundred and sixteen pupils termed " Aca- 
demic." These normal pupils all make a declaration of intention to 
teach, and though the academic scholars do not, it is a fact that 
very many of them, also, become so imbued with the professional 
spirit as to enter the list as teachers. The committee are informed 
that many of them, after pursuing the academic course for a time, 



19 

enter the normal classes and make the required declaration of their 
determination to teach. 

In speaking of academic departments, we deem it necessary to 
make a further explanation less we may be misunderstood. While 
there are academic scholars in all of the normal schools except Albany 
and Oswego, there is no specific academic department in any except 
Brockport and Fredonia, and in these the teachers employed as 
academic teachers do much normal work. All the schools having 
academic scholars in attendance do so by virtue of the equities 
and rights under which the schools were organized, as more fully 
appeared by our report made to the legislature upon that subject 
bearing date May 14, 1878. These academic pupils are admitted 
free of tuition at Cortland and Fredonia, provided they reside 
within the limits of the respective villages. All the academic scholars 
at the other schools pay tuition . With the exception of Brock- 
port, Geneseo and Fredonia, no additional classes are required 
for the accommodation of these academic pupils. At Geneseo 
there is but one additional recitation daily, occupying forty minutes. 
The academic pupils are subject to the same general discipline 
and government as the normal scholars. At several of the schools 
a considerable revenue is derived from these academic pupils, nota- 
bly at Brockport, where the entire expense of that department is 
borne from its receipts, and leaving an average yearly surplus of 
seven hundred and sixty dollars to be applied toward the payment 
of the general expenses of the school. So, too, at Geneseo ; the 
academic students pay from $24.00 to $32.00 per year, yielding a 
revenue to the school of an average of $1,400.00 per year, which is 
applied to incidental expenses, and the purchase of apparatus, etc., 
not strictly provided for by the law authorizing the school, but still 
important and necessary. At the time of the visit of the committee 
there were in attendance at the schools named, academic pupils as 
follows : 

Brockport 74 Geneseo 62 

Cortland 13 Potsdam 20 

Fredonia 41 Buffalo 6 

This gives an aggregate attendance of 216 academic pupils. These 
schools were not established for the benefit of this class of pupils, 
but the State loses nothing financially by allowing their at- 
tendance. The only question is Avhether or not their presence 
interferes with the proper work of the schools. This is certainly 



20 

a liability against which the schools should constantly guard. 
As at present conducted the committee were unable to discover 
that they operated as a disturbing force, or that these pupils divert 
the school from its proper work or impair their professional vigor. 
Whatever incidental beneiit accrues to the locality to that extent 
contributes to the general welfare. 

So far as the committee can ascertain the normal pupils are gen- 
erally sought after as teachers, especially v^here they have been tried. 
In some instances local prejudices exist, which have prevented the 
State from realizing the full measure of benefit which it would 
otherwise have derived. These prejudices, however, seem to have 
largely given way, as the system of normal schools and their results 
become better known. In many places an entirely new character 
seems to have been given to the public schools, by teachers from 
the normal schools, and a new interest taken in them by the commu- 
nities in which they are situated. 

Of course some fail in this profession as there are failures in all 
other professions. The exception does not disprove the rule. These 
failures the normal schools seek to prevent by withholding its diplo- 
mas from those who show in the practicing school that they lack 
ability to conduct a school successfully. 

While all the schools are doing excellent work, it is proper that 
we should report more particularly concerning some of them. 
The Faculty and Local Board of the Buffalo School feel that they 
have, and from the first have had peculiar difficulties to contend with. 
The school itself compares favorably with the other schools of the 
State. But the committee are satisfied that its usefulness is greatly 
impaired by unfriendly local inffuences. These influences have worked 
against the normal school almost, if not quite, from its organization. 

There is a lack of harmony between it and the city schools. 
Without attempting to decide whether the opposition arises from 
personal or political influences, or both, we are clearly of the opin- 
ion that they spring from causes altogether apart from the merits of 
the normal school itself. One of the results of this opposition is, 
as the committee are informed, that normal graduates, in many 
cases, are refused positions in the public schools of the city, 
while others are employed who have had no professional train- 
ing. This has operated to discourage ambitious pupils from 
entering the school and prevented the State from deriving the 
full measure of benefit from those who have entered and gradu- 
ated. Here is certainly a condition of things which cannot be 



21 

permanently tolerated. It is also an unnatural state of affairs. 
The city itself, with the county of Erie, expended $90,000 for 
the erection of the building. The State annually appropriates about 
$18,000 for its support. It was intended to benefit the State at 
large by helping to educate all the children of one of its most 
important cities. It sought to do this by placing within its reach 
the means of training the teachers for its public schools. Of course 
it was intended to benefit other localities. But this particular 
school would properly be expected to be of especial service to 
this city, which owes its greatness to the liberal policy of the State 
in other matters, and which has now come to be the third city of 
the State, nearly half as large as some of the smaller States of the 
Union. The State has a right to expect that this, with other 
localities, will co-operate with it in accomplishing the ends sought. 
While we do not recommend any immediate action in regard to 
this school, we deem it our duty to call the attention of the State 
to matters there as they are represented to us. 

The committee believe that the difficulty may be removed, pro- 
vided the people of the city will take the matter into their own 
hands, with the determination that the school authorities of the 
city shall not refuse trained, skilled instructors for the schools, 
when such can be obtained. These school officers derive their 
authority from the people, and should properly represent them in 
a hearty appreciation and thorough appropriation of the benefits of 
professionally trained and qualified teachers. 

Special notice should be made of the school at Fredonia. It 
was opened in 1868 and continued for one year under the manage- 
ment of the superintendent of public instruction and of a local 
board. In 186^ the school came under the exclusive control of the 
superintendent and so continued until 1874. Since that time it has 
had a local board. This anomalous condition from 1869 to 1874 
seems to have grown out of certain antagonisms,which the committee 
believe have now nearly passed away, and which need not be enum- 
erated here, except so far as it may be necessary in order to under- 
stand the present condition and prospects of the school. 

The village of Fredonia, with a population of less than 3,000 
inhabitants, expended $100,000 for the purchase and improvement 
of a site " and for erecting school buildings thereon for said normal 
and training school with departments for academical, experimental 
and practicing schools, and for furnishing the same with all needful 
school furniture, apparatus and books," (see Laws of 1867, chapter 



22 

223). To do this evinced a most commendable appreciation of the 
value of education. They had long maintained an academy of a high 
order. Under these circumstances, in addition to the assurances said 
to have been given by the then superintendent, it is not surprising that 
there should have been some difficulty in harmonizing the claims of 
the State with those of the locality. We think, however, that this 
would have been done long ago had it not been for other condi- 
tions, which, in the past, have impaired the usefulness of the school, 
and to some extent rendered it a disappointment and an embarrass- 
ment to the friends of normal schools. 

Prof. Palmer became principal of the school in ISTovember, 1878, so 
that at the time of the committee's visit he had been principal only 
about three months. Not enough time had been given to enable the 
school under present conditions to fully develop its capacity for use- 
fulness as a normal school. The committee, however, believe that the 
future will justify the expectation that it will soon take its place in 
line with the other normal schools of the State. There seemed to be a 
united and earnest purpose on the part of the faculty and local board to 
make the school all that the State expects of it. It has an able and 
faithful body of teachers. Complaint has been made that the aca- 
demic department has been allowed to encroach upon the normal 
and training departments. However this may have been in the 
past, the committee believe that there is now a common determin- 
ation on the part of the citizens, officers and teachers, to give the 
academic department its proper subordinate place. It is only just 
to add, that the school is now doing excellent work, we think it has 
all the elements of still higher success, and that they are working 
together with the prospect of attaining it. 

The Albany normal school has but one course, and that for two 
years only. In addition to this we think there should be a more 
extended course ; it is desirable that those who can should enjoy for 
a longer time the benefits of the school, and so prepare themselves 
for still better work as instructors. We think the effort now mak- 
ing to secure a greater numbei* of pupils for the practicing school 
should be encouraged and aided. At present the number of young 
pupils for the normal scholars to instruct while serving th^ir 
apprenticeship is altogether too small. It does not represent the 
schools they will hereafter teach ; at present these primary pupils 
pay tuition. We think that the advantage to the State resulting 
from an increased number of these primary pupils would far more 
than compensate for the loss of the tuition fees. It is to be regretted 



23 

that the school building is not better adapted to its uses. Both here 
and at Brockport there is too much clhnbing of stairs, especially for 
the young women, siuce this is believed to impair their health and 
thereby cause a loss of effective vigor, which neither the State nor 
the individual can afford. We noticed, however, that the arrange- 
ment of the classes is such as to make the best of the situation. 
Except as above indicated, the rooms seemed fairly well adapted to 
the wants of the school. We desire to add that here, as elsewhere, 
a high degree of professional intelligence and zeal pervades the 
school ; and that the teachers had evidently been selected with great 
care, and are doing work of a high order. We think more time in 
the practicing department and attention to methods is desirable. 

Text-Books. 

Another matter intrusted to the committee was in pursuance of 
a resolution adopted by the assembly, March 19, 1878, by which 
the committee were instructed " to investigate and report whether 
any teacliers or officials of the State normal schools in the employ 
and service of the State, have been or are, directly or indirectly, 
interested, pecuniarily, in any school books, or school apparatus 
used in them and the common schools of the State." 

The committee has pursued its investigation in view of the above 
resolution, so far as the normal schools are concerned, and would 
state the following as the result : 

Albany. — Dr. J. Alden, the principal, is the author, and inter- 
ested in tlie following books, viz. : 

1. A work on "Intellectual Philosophy." 2. A work on " The 
Science of Government." 3. A book of extracts for Reading, 
Thought Analyses, and exercises in Rhetoric. These books are 
used as text-books at the Albany Normal School, approved by Dr. 
Wool worth, secretary of the Board of Regents, and chairman 
of the committee on text-books, and purchased by him. All 
have been in use ten or twelve years, the first two at least 
written and published before Dr. A.'s connection with the school. 

Buffalo. — The teacher of drawing is preparing a set of drawing 
books for the use of graded schools. As far as completed, they are 
by authority of the city department of education in use in the 
school of practice at that place. They are not in use in the nor- 
mal school and will not be, not being adapted to such use. The 
principal has published a blank form for spelling lessons, and for 



24 

composition lessons. The former is used in classes in the normal 
schools, and practice schools. 

Brochport. — Prof. C. D. McLean, the principal, is the owner of 
three-eighths of the copyright of McYicar's Arithmetic. 

Cortland. — ^The principal of this school, Dr. J. H. Hoose, pub- 
lished in 1876, a small volume entitled " Studies in Articulation^'' 
a book needed for use in drilling in reading and elocution, and 
adopted as a text-book at this school. In 1877 Miss Martha Hoe, 
teacher of methods and superintendent of the schools of practice, 
published a small text-book entitled, "^ 1F(9/'^ on Number ^^"^ for 
the junior classes in schools of practice. She began to prepare 
the work before her connection with the school during her previous 
years of teaching. This is used as a text-book as above indicated. 
Prof. Stowell has been at work for some time preparing a ^' Syl- 
l bus in Zoology^'' not yet, however, ready for the press. A few 
pages have been published by request of principals of normal 
schools, in order to supply a basis for uniform work upon the sub- 
ject in the normal schools. 

In November and December, 1878, the principal completed 
a book, entitled '' On the Province of Methods of Teaching, a Pro- 
fessional Study." This is now in press. This is designed as a text- 
book for normal schools, and is strictly professional in its charac- 
ter, -embodying the author's study and reading for years. It enters 
into discussions which are purely professional, and supplies a press- 
ing need, there being but verj^ little of this literature in English 
for students. He has another professional book well begun, 
" On the Theory and Practice of School Government," being 
an investigation of the subject, which he expects to bring out as a 
text-book for the profession at large. He has also written a large 
number of professional essays and lectures, which are believed to 
have contributed to the advantage of the profession, and to the im- 
provement not only of the normal schools, but of the entire common- 
school system. 

Fredonia. — No teacher of this school, or member of the board of 
control, is in any manner interested pecuniarily in the publication 
of any text-books for schools. 

Geneseo. — Prof. Wm. J. Milne, principal of this school, wrote and 
is interested pecuniarily in the sale of a series of mathematical text- 
books for use in schools. Jerome Allen, professor of natural science, 
is interested in the sale of some works on " Geography." Mrs. Sarah 



25 

F. Fletcher, teacher of English grammar and elementary methods, 
is interested in the sale of a work on " Primary Arithmetic." 

Oswego. — Prof. Herman Krusi is the author of a work on the 
" Philosophy and History of Education," referring especially to the 
new method. He is also the author of a series of drawing books. 
Mary Y. Lee, M. D., teacher of anatomy, etc., is the author of a gram- 
mar. Dr. Edward. A. Sheldon, the principal, is the author of three 
manuals for teachers, on the " Principles of Education and Methods 
of Teaching." Also a series of "Reading books" and " Spellers." 
Each of the teachers and the principal above named hold copy- 
rights of the books so written and published by them. A number 
of these books were prepared before the authors had any connection 
with the school. 

Potsdam. — Dr. M. McYicar, the principal, is the author of 
six books prepared for use in schools. He is the owner of one- third 
of the copyright of these books. The treasurer of the local board of 
trustees owns two-ninths of the copyright of these books. So far as 
the committee have been able to ascertain no other teachers or 
members of the local board are interested in the publication of text- 
books or their sale. The committee are informed that in no case is 
there any attempt to force these books upon the several schools. 
They compete with those presented by others for examination, and 
are adopted because of their superior fitness to supply the wants 
of the schools. The sale of the books is not made by the au- 
thors. They are generally placed on sale at the book stores where 
the schools are situated as other text-books are. 

The importance of good text-books is second only to that of good 
teachers. They should be written by experts in teaching, with 
great care, and be the result of well matured thought and experience. 
It may be reasonably expected therefore of normal school faculties 
that they will contribute to the improvement of the text-books for the 
public schools. While advancing and disseminating the science of 
teaching, they should also increase the facilities for conducting the 
work of the schools. If our text-books had in all cases been pre- 
pared by more competent hands and with greater care, there would 
have been less reason to complain of frequent changes. The poor 
text-book from the first invites change. What we have said is, of 
course, with the implied understanding that neither the writing of 
text-books nor any thing else should be allowed to interfere with 
the direct work for which the teachers are employed. Furthermore, 
it is the making oi many books "of which there is no end." We 



26 

are rather speaking of books that grow out of the thoughtful ex- 
perience of the teacher. So far as we have been able to ascertain 
these books have grown up in the way above indicated, and have 
been prepared without neglect of duty on the part of teachers, 
and were, as we are informed, compiled and perfected from mate- 
rials already prepared for their own class and school work. 

The New York Normal College 

is a notably excellent school, not only in the magnificence and ex- 
tent of its appointments, but in the system and perfectneps of its 
management. It is fitted to awaken something much higher than 
mere personal or local pride, for it cannot fail to inspire a high 
degree of hopefulness for the future of the city of New York. In 
various ways its influence will be felt beyond its limits. Great credit 
is due to the distinguished board of education and to the faculty, 
especially the president, Dr. Thomas Hunter, under whose 
supervision and counsel thecollege was founded and has readied 
its present high position.. 

In Regard to the Equities 

referred to in the resolution under which the committee were ap- 
pointed, it is sufiicient here to say, that the essential factsin the 
case could be ascertained without a personal visitation to the schools ; 
that they accordingly made the examination and submitted their 
report on this point to the assembly, on the fourteenth day of May, 
1878, accompanied by a resolution instructing the superintendent to 
annul the order of June 11, 1877, which directed the discontinu- 
ance of the academic department in the several normal schools. 
The resolution was unanimously adopted and immediately acted 
upon by the superintendent. 

The report was substantially as follows : At the Frcdonia school 
the committee find that an academic department is maintained by 
express authority of a special law passed in 1867. 

At Brockport, at the time of the establishment of the normal 
school, a large, well-established and prosperous academy, known as 
the Brockport Collegiate Institute, was in successful operation. The 
large and commodious buildings erected by the people of Brock- 
port for an academy, which, with the grounds, was valued at 
$72,000, were deeded to the State and given up for normal school 
purposes upon the express assurance of the superintendent of pub- 
lic instruction, that an academic department would be established 



27 

and maintained in the school. Upon like assurance the village 
raised by tax in addition thereto the sum of $40,000, for the ex- 
pense of the alterations and improvements that the superintendent 
of public instruction required. On the completion of the improve- 
ments and the transfer of the property to the State, an academic 
department was established and has been maintained, except during 
a brief interval. 

Potsdam for fifty years had had an academy known as the St. 
Lawrence academy. In 1866 the lot, building and apparatus, esti- 
mated to be worth $13,000, was donated to the State on assurances 
substantially the same as those given by the State in the case of 
Brockport. In addition to this and upon the same understanding- 
there was assessed and collected from the village and town of Pots- 
dam and the county of St. Lawrence, the sum of $70,000 for the 
purpose of erecting the necessary school buildings under the direc- 
tion of the superintendent of public instruction. The people of 
Potsdam and St. Lawrence county acted in this matter upon the 
understanding that the academic department would be maintained 
in connection with the normal school. 

Cortland also at this time had a prosperous and flourishing 
academy. The trustees of the village, in pursuance of notice, 
offered to give $50,000 and a site for a normal school, if one would 
be located at that place. The State authorities authorized the trus- 
tees of the village to announce that if the amount was increased to 
$75,000 and a site, the offer would be accepted, and an academic 
department would be established and maintained in the school. 
This assurance was communicated to the citizens and tax payers, and 
by a vote of 231 to 12 the corporation was bonded for the purpose. 
In addition to this, the trustees of the academy surrendered their 
academy lot for a portion of the normal school site, and by resolu- 
tion donated to the State their library, furniture, chemical apparatus 
and geological collection, with a condition in the deed of convey- 
ance that upon the failure of the State to maintain an academic 
department in the school, the lot and property should revert to the 
trustees of the academy. On the part of the remaining schools, it 
is claimed that the equities are equally strong and clear, and substan- 
tially the same. The inhabitants of these localities would never 
have consented to be taxed for the establishment of normal schools 
had they supposed that they would thereby have endangered the 
existence of their academies. The academic department in these 
schools, practically necessitates no additional expense to the State, 



28 

and in some cases they have been more than self- sustaining. Under 
the circumstances detailed the committee report that in their opin- 
ion the academic departments attached to these schools cannot be 
abrogated consistently with good faith on the part of the State au- 
thorities. They therefore recommend the adoption of the following 
resolution : Resolved^ That the superintendent of public instruction 
be and he hereby is requested to revoke his order of June 11, 1877, 
discontinuing the academic departments in said normal schools. 
The grounds on which the equities claimed by the several locali- 
ties were found to rest were set forth in the report above men- 
tioned. The evidence to sustain the equities, and upon which the 
report was based, were annexed to said report and filed with the 
same. A part of the evidence in the case may be found in the twenty- 
fourth annual report of the superintendent of public instruction, 
pp. 53-68. Chapter 223 of the Laws of 1867 is a special act provid- 
ing for an academic department at Fredonia. ^Notwithstanding the 
equities in the case there are as elsewhere stated no academic de- 
partments properly so called, except in two of the normal schools. 
In the four others having academic pupils, no extra teachers are 
employed, and no extra class, except in one case where there is one 
extra recitation of forty minutes each day. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



1. That the normal schools are performing intelligently, effi- 
ciently and in good faith, the work expected of them by the State. 

2. That the normal schools are an essential part of our public 
school system, and as such should be liberally and unwaveringly 
supported. 

3. That without normal schools there would be that waste in the 
public expenditures which must result from the employment of un- 
skilled and incompetent teachers, and hence that true economy re- 
quires their maintenance. 

4. That normal schools should have a settled place in the perma- 
nent policy of the State, and that henceforth the only question 
should be, how can they be improved and extended ? 

5. That education should be thorough and progressive, as well as 



29 

universal. From such education the State has nothing to fear, but 
every thing to hope. 

From the foregoing it is apparent wliat must be the answer of 
the committee to the question which has been raised, " whether the 
normal schools are really worth to the common-school sj^stem what 
they cost." In the first place, from the nature of the case, and from 
a wide experience both in Europe and America, it is clearly evi- 
dent that normal schools, properly conducted, are essential to 
economy, as well as efficiency, in any system of public instruction ; 
and in the se§pnd place, from a personal examination of the New 
York State normal schools, we are satisfied that they are properly 
conducted, and therefore are worth to the system what they cost ; 
that the annual appropriations for their support are wisely and 
economically made ; and that the opposite policy would be one of 
wastefulness. 

With a fair field in which to work, the normal schools are sure 
to win the confidence of the people. Whether or not any reduction 
can be made in the expenses of the normal schools, without im- 
pairing their efficiency or doing injustice to any concerned, will 
properly continue to receive the attention of the respective local 
boards. The utmost care should be exercised in selecting normal 
school teachers. The teachers of teachers should have attained 
the highest professional excellence, and have special aptness in 
aiding others to acquire the same. They should not be overtaxed by 
the daily school work. Some of their strength should be reserved 
for advancing the science itself, while they seek to understand better 
the beings to be taught and how to teach them. 

The more complete and perfect development of the normal 
schools will be from within, by a natural law of growth. Their 
own investigations, experience, and observation, will lead by ten- 
tative steps to continual improvements. Whatever changes may 
be desirable in the work, and methods of the schools, can bo 
wrought out by themselves with greater safet}^ and more permanent 
benefit, than by legislative intervention. They may, however, be 
aided by the suggestions of others. 

The committee, therefore, make the following 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

1. The nomenclature of normal schools should be so revised as 
to conform to the real state of the case. 

The terms, "Normal Department," "Primary Department," 



30 

" Intermediate Department ' ' and '" Academic Department," are 
used in some of the schools and corresponding terms in others, as 
if thej indicated co-ordinate divisions or branches of the school. 
This is not the fact. There are really but two principal divisions, 
or departments, common to all the normal schools. The first is that 
in which instruction is given in the various branches taught, and in 
the principles of correct teaching. It is the department of instruc- 
tion. Co-ordinate with this, and supplementary to it, is that part 
of the school in which the pupils are trained in the actual work of 
putting those principles in practice. Here the pupil iprves a sort of 
apprenticeship under the eye of a master. This is, in fact, a depart- 
ment of practice and training. The name should indicate it. 
These two divisions are co-ordinate and cover the entire field 
occupied by all but two of the normal schools. 
They might be called : 

1. The Department of Instruction. 

2. The Department of Practice. 

Or if it be desired to have these names coincide more closely 
with the name applied to all but one of the schools, viz. : normal 
and training schools, the following names might be used instead of 
the above: 

1. The Kormal Department. 

2. The Training Department. 

What are now called in some of the schools " Intermediate " and 
"Primary Departments," are, in fact, subdivisions of the training 
or practice department, hence the word "department" should not 
be applied to them, that name having already been appropriated. 
They might be called divisions. These again are subdivided into 
" grades." We should then have departments, divisions and grades, 
one above the other. 

Again the name "Academic Department" is a misnomer in all 
the normal schools of the State except Brockpoi't and Fredonia. 
At Albany and Oswego the name is not used. There is no such 
thing at Buffalo, Cortland, Potsdam and Gcneseo, as an academic 
department, properly so-called. There are pupils in them who do not 
promise to teach, but who pay tuition instead. No separate classes 
are formed for them, except that, at Geneseo, there is one separate 
recitation daily. They pay for and get instruction in some of the 
classes in the department of instruction. These may properly be 
called academic pupils. They do not constitute a department. 
It is otherwise, however, at Brockport and Fredonia. There the 
name is still applicable. 



31 

2. The standard for admission should be raised, in order to give 
more time for the purely professional work of the schools. The 
committee do not forget that the faculties are obliged to select from 
those who come for admission upon the recommendation of the 
school commissioners and city superintendents with the approval of 
the superintendent of public instruction. We do not recommend 
any violent change from the course now pursued by the normal 
schools in this matter, but we wish to emphasize the necessity of, 
and encourage all efforts looking toward, a higher standard of 
admission. 

3. The committee also recommend that the normal scholars, in 
addition to the promise to teach, which they now make on entering 
the schools, should also promise to report to the respective princi- 
pals, during a specified time, as to the teaching actually done by 
them after leaving the normal school. 

4. That the directly professional work begin the first year, pro- 
vided it can be done without impairing the scholarship and culture 
of the pupils, for without these pre-requisites no degree of mere 
skill can give success in teaching. The two must go together. 

6. That the course of instruction at the Albany Normal School 
be extended so as to include at least another year, if not all that is 
covered by the courses of the other normal schools. It is believed 
that none of these includes too much. 

6. Since the complete science and perfect art of teaching is not 
yet attained, and since the normal schools have the double function 
of imparting what has been learned, and at the same time working 
toward something beyond, and since each of our normal schools 
excels others in some things, the committee recommend that the 
principals, and as far as may be the faculties, meet as often as 
practicable, to discuss principles and compare methods ; to the end 
that each may profit by the thought and experience of all. 

7. One object in placing the first normal school of the State at 
the capital was to enable the people, especially through their repre- 
sentatives in the legislature, to see for themselves what the school 
was doing, and capable of doing for the State. They recommend 
that the people generally avail themselves of every opportunity to 
examine all of the normal schools. The committee believe that 
most of the opposition to them has arisen from, or been supported 
by, a lack of acquaintance with them. Let them be visited. 
Let their work be examined. The schools themselves desire it. 
Great gain would result from it. It would lead to a more in- 



32 

telligent and active co-operation on the part of the people in this 
and all efforts to raise the standard of popular instruction and 
citizenship. School commissioners may do great good by taking 
pains to find those in their respective districts who seem to possess 
peculiar aptness for teaching, together with the other qualifications 
required, and encouraging such to go to the normal schools. 

The committee were instructed ''to consider and report to the 
assembly what, if any, 

LEGISLATION 

is needed in order to render the normal schools more useful to the 
State." 

1. They are of the opinion that no legislation is required imme- 
diately affecting the schools now in operation, beyond providing for 
them a liberal support. 

2. Reference has already been made to an act passed in 1866 ap- 
pointing a commission to receive proposals for the location of four 
normal schools in addition to the two which had been previously 
established. After locating those four, the commission, consisting of 
the governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, comptroller, 
attorney-general and the superintendent of public instruction, recom- 
mended the establishment of six more normal schools, making 
twelve in all. Only two of the six have been established. Beyond 
that the recommendation of the commission has not been carried out. 
It is obvious that the eight normal schools now in existence are not 
adequate to meet the wants of the entire State. It is equally clear 
from their location that they were intended to be only a part of the 
system of State normal schools. A glance at the map will show 
that the southern, eastern, and, to some extent, the central and 
northern portions of the State are not sufficiently provided for. One- 
half of the eight schools are west of Rochester. It is now too late 
to criticise their location. They are where the State itself put them 
and should remain there, provided the localities co-operate with the 
State in making them useful according to the spirit of the original 
contract made at the time of their location. The committee 
recommend that other normal schools be established. Whether this 
should be done at once, or be deferred until more prosperous times 
return, they do not deem it necessary to express an opinion. 

3. This inquiry has taken a much wider range than was at first 
anticipated, and has revealed the necessity for still more considera- 
tion than the committee has been able to give to it. The normal 
schools are, or should be, an integral part of our entire system of 



33 

education. They were not intended to stan'^ .part by themselves. 
They come into relationship with all the other public schools of the 
State. Their efficiency and value, therefore, must depend largely 
on their adjustment to the other parts of the system. It is impos- 
sible for the State to derive the full benefit from any of its schools 
unless they are brought into harmonious co-operation with each 
other. 

In looking over the field, the committee are led to believe that, 
although the State has many most excellent educational forces, yet 
that in relation to each other they are desultory. It has the ele- 
ments of an educational system, but lacks the system. Those 
elements are yet to be brought into vital organic unity. Without 
this there will be a necessary waste of teaching forces, a waste from 
which each generation and the State in all its parts must suffer 
loss. Whether the difficulty is one of organization or of adminis- 
tration, or of both, may somewhat appear from a brief outlook upon 
the situation. 

Believing that the present is best understood in the light of what 
has preceded and produced it, the committee will notice a very few 
of the more prominent measures adopted by the State in relation to 
this matter. 

In 1787 New York established a State university upon an English 
model, known as " The Regents of the University of the State of 
New York." It was authorized to grant charters to colleges and 
academies, and was charged with the general supervision of the 
colleges, academies and schools which are or may be established in 
this State. This scheme was capable of providing, and was doubt- 
less intended to provide, a single supervisory power over all the 
schools of any grade which were then or might thereafter be estab- 
lished. If this idea and policy had been adhered to, we should at 
least have had a single system of public schools. 

It was not until 1812 that a common -school system for the State 
was established and organized by law. These schools were placed 
under the" supervision of an officer called the Superintendent of 
Common Schools, an office then created. Thus there came to be 
two separate and independent heads to the schools of the State, 
namely: The board of regents, having supervision of the '* col- 
leges, academies and schools," except the common schools (no excep- 
tion was made prior to the act of 1812 ), and the Superintendent 
of Common Schools, having the supervision indicated by the 
name. At this time there were no union high schools, with or 

6 



34 

without academic uv^partments. There were no teachers' insti- 
tutes or teachers' departments or teachers' classes connected with 
the academies. There were no normal schools. As these were 
created from time to time, it was necessary to place them under one 
or the other of these heads, or to create a new one. As a matter of 
fact they were divided between the two already in existence, some 
tailing to the regents and others to the superintendent, and that, 
too, according to no very well defined principle. Teachers' in- 
stitutes, designed for the improvement of the teachers of the 
common schools, were put under the superintendent, while teach- 
ers' classes, designed for precisely the same purpose, were placed 
under the control of the regents. The first normal school, hav- 
ing the same object in view, was put under the supervision of 
both the regents and the superintendent. The seven other normal 
schools were placed under the exclusive supervision of the super- 
intendent. When the union high schools were established they 
were placed under the management of the superintendent. When 
incorporated academies were merged in union schools, becoming 
simply a department of such schools, the question of supervision 
arose again. The result was that the regents kept control of what 
remained of the academies, including the academic departments, 
except as to their finances, while the whole school, including the 
financial affairs of the academic department, was under the man. 
agement of the superintendent. 

For the sake of greater accuracy, it should be said that the office 
of superintendent of common schools continued as a separate one 
until 1821, when the duties of the office were transferred to the 
secretary of State, who became ex-officio superintendent of common 
schools. This continued until 1854, when the duties were re- 
assigned to a separate officer, since then known as superintendent 
of public instruction. This latter, commonly called '^ The Depart- 
ment," and The Regents of the University constitute at present 
the two heads of the public schools of the State. It should also be 
noted in regard to the powers and duties of the superintendent of 
public instruction, that in addition to the exclusive control and 
management of the common schools, he is also a sort of court of 
appeals. All controversies arising out of the conduct of the com- 
mon schools throughout the State are referred to him and his 
decision is final, from which no appeal can be taken. 

Instead of a single we have a double-headed system, supplemented 
by a sort of patch- work system. We use the word "system" 



35 

for convenience, not for accuracy. Between these two supervisory 
powers there is doubtless such comity as should exist between civil- 
ized nations, or between cultivated gentlemen, but there is never- 
theless no efficient unity of plan, whereby each part of the system 
is made to work in most efficient harmony with the other parts. 

The common school, the high school and academy, and the col- 
lege belong together in a liaturally ascending series of schools, 
designed to give a primary, secondary and superior education. 
There should be a corresponding unity in their supervision. Each 
part should be so conducted as to give vigor to all. 

In view of the facts as outlined above, the question is, what 
should be done. 

Any one of four ways may be taken. 

1. Retain the present arrangement with the expectation that con- 
tinued efforts will be made to administer matters well, notwithstand- 
ing the confusion in organization. 

2. Place all the schools of the State under the supervision of the 
regents of the university. 

3. Place them all under the supervision of the superintendent. 

4. Evolve a new unit of supervision from the two now in exist- 
ence. 

In a matter of such vital and commanding importance to the 
welfare of the State, as the education of the people is conceded to 
be, no innovation should be lightly made. Too much is at stake. 
Nor, on the other hand, should there be a refusal to make such 
changes as are approved by experience and supported by sufficient 
reasons. An institution which, like the regents of the university, 
has survived the changes in the Constitution and laws of the State 
for nearly a century, is entitled to great respect. So, too, the 
"department," having substantially kept its place under modified 
conditions for nearly three-quarters of a century, is entitled to a 
like respect. This consideration, however, should not obscure the 
fact that our schools lack that vital, organic unity which is essential 
to their highest usefulness. This lack is most deeply felt by many 
of our leading educators — men who are in the business and know 
the practical working of the system. 

It is not within the scope of this report to go into details showing 
the effects of this want of unity. It may, however, be expected of 
the committee that they should at least make some suggestions 
which will aid in discovering a way to produce such unity. 

It is one of the axioms in government, that some things require 



36 

the deliberative wisdom of many, while others demand the execu- 
tive will of one. The many can best suggest, sift, compare and 
mature policies and plans, which are best executed by one. 

Upon this theory our governments, state and national, are con- 
structed. The legislature would be a poor executive. The execu- 
tive would be a poor legislature. This theory involves also the 
idea of the representation of different localities. So that in our 
legislative bodies we have the co-operation not only of many minds, 
but of many localities, all of whose various views and interests are 
to be consulted and harmonized. 

In the department of the judiciary a single judge presides at the 
trial, but from his decision, except in matters resting in his discre- 
tion, an appeal may be taken to a tribunal where the concurrence 
of several is necessary to a decision. 

This principle may be applied to the management of our schools. 
Representative men from different parts of the State, who know 
the peculiar needs of their several localities and who are acquainted 
with the advancing educational ideas of the times, should certainly 
be able, upon due consultation, to take a careful and comprehensive 
view of the condition and wants of education throughout the State. 
They should be able to bring all our schools into effective harmony 
with each other, under some one comprehensive system. Then there 
should be an oflScer charged with the duty of executing the plans 
formed by that body. It is not material v^hether such officer be 
called '' secretary of the board," as in Massachusetts, Vermont, 
Connecticut, and other States, or whether lie be known by any 
other name, aptly designating his functions. The regents might 
be retained, subject to such modifications, if any, in respect to 
number, tenure of office, etc., as the wisdom of the legislature 
should direct; many of the functions of the superintendent of public 
instruction might be retained in one officer. He, with the necessary 
deputies and clerks, would constitute the executive force of the 
system. He would in the first instance decide matters in contro- 
versy, as the superintendent now decides them, except that pro- 
vision might be made for an appeal in certain cases, from his deter- 
minations to the regents, subject to such needful and salutary regu- 
lations as the legislature or the regents themselves might prescribe. 

The committee believe that it is possible to construct a system in 
substantial accordance with the suggestions above made that would 
have unity and impart fresh vigor to all our schools. The com- 
mon schools, the normal schools, high schools and academies would 



37 

work together with more effective harmony. The different stand- 
ards of education would be made to correspond with, and fit into 
each other. Greater thoroughness, a wider range and a more orderly 
progress from one branch of study to another, and from one 
school to another, might be secured. 

In concluding this part of our report we have only to say that 
no system, however perfect, can accomplish the desired results 
unless the people themselves appreciate the value of good schools 
and do their part in securing them. Until the people outgrow the 
pernicious idea that almost any one is competent to " keep school," 
and that the " cheap teacher ^' is the one to be secured, not much 
progress can be made. 

It has from the first been the policy of the State to refuse its aid 
to incompetent teachers ; hence, it has required that every district 
sharing in the public school moneys shall employ a teacher bearing 
a certificate of qualification. This idea and policy has been recog- 
nized ever since our earliest colonial days. These certificates in 
many cases have been so easily obtained that" the policy and the 
practice have been wide apart. The policy of the State should be 
to require a much higher standard of qualification, and the practice 
of the school trustees and boards of education should be to seek 
after the highest attainable qualifications. It should be understood, 
too, that the necessary qualification is not confined to the matter of 
mere knowledge — though our teachers should have more of that — 
health, hnowledge, culture, good character with practical skill, and 
ability to organize, govern and instruct ai^e the qualifications needed. 
Let all who employ teachers recognize this standard and work up to it. 

When the State shall have provided ample means for acquiring 
professional skill in teaching and have placed those means within 
the reach of all, it will be in a position to say to all the schools re- 
ceiving the public moneys, that unless they employ those who have 
learned how to teach they shall have no portion of such moneys. 
The State having aided in preparing teachers for the common 
schools may reasonably expect and demand that the latter shall 
employ them. 



38 



THE NECESSITY FOR NORMAL SCHOOLS 

Arises from two facts : 

1. The importance not only of teaching, but of teaching well. 

2. The difficulty of teaching well. 

The first is conceded in a general way. That the second is not 
duly appreciated is shown by the too common notion that almost 
any one with an ordinary education is competent to keep school, 
and from the too prevalent practice of employing a cheap teacher 
because he is cheap. A more thoughtful and a more widely popu- 
lar appreciation, both of the vital importance and the exceeding 
difficulty of teaching well, is essential to the highest success of our 
system of public schools. 

The State is what the people are^ not what they jpossess. The 
census can give only the lowest forms of wealth. The welfare of a 
State consists chiefly in the moral and intellectual character of its 
people. This character is determined by the education which is 
given to the children ; this education is largely secured in our com- 
mon schools. The schools are what the teachers make them, hence 
the importance of good teachers. In no sense can the State afford 
to treat with indifference the training of its thirty thousand in- 
structors for its more than a million and a half children. 

There are not wanting those who fear that universal suffrage is 
a mistake, and that, in consequence of it, our government will suc- 
cumb to the malign influences that have destroyed other republics. 
Whether such fears are well or ill grounded must depend on what 
shall be done for each generation of citizens before they reach the 
age when they are invested with political power. If any are dis- 
posed to retrace our steps in respect to universal suffrage, it is now 
too late. Popular suffrage with us is a fixed fact. The question 
now is, what shall we do to neutralize the elements of danger, and 
to make it safe to intrust to the people the government of the 
people. Something more is required than mere regulation or any 
system of repression. There must be the enlightened ability to 
know what is right and wise in the several spheres of private, so- 
cial and political life. To this must be added that integrity of char- 
acter which disposes to corresponding action, and then secures it. 
In a word, the old answer is the true one ; we must educate. But 
the old ideas of education need to be developed into still higher 
conceptions and especially into more efficient forces for accomplish- 
ing the ends proposed. 



39 

During the last fifty years the departments of human knowledge 
and the forms of activity have been multiplied and enlarged. More 
intelligence in every direction is required in order to keep pace 
with the civilization in the midst of which we live. This demand 
will continue to increase. The standard of popular education must 
rise to the demand and with it. 

The policy of the State should look to the raising, not the lower- 
ing, of the standard of popular education. It should provide and 
maintain the requisite agencies. Can it be doubtful that a State 
acts most wisely when it provides most efficiently for the kind and 
extent of teaching, best adapted to secure the needed intelligence 
and moral discipline in the masses of the people ? It should always 
be borne in mind that the administration of public affairs, from the 
lowest to the highest office, is committed to the people, that those 
who are to make and those who are to execute the laws, that those 
for whom and in whose name they are to be made and executed, 
will depend, in no small degree, for their character and competency 
upon the schools which the State provides and supports. Like 
schools, like people. 

What the State should do in this matter of education arises also 
from the difficulty of doing it as the general welfare requires. 
If the science and the art of war were so easily acquired that a 
few weeks of special instruction and drill were sufficient to prepare 
for successful leadership, then the national government might dis- 
pense with its military and naval schools. But the matter is too 
difficult to justify their abandonment. Long and patient instruction 
and training are found to be necessary. 

Teaching has to do with the highest forms of force, namely, 
mental and moral. It is the art of appealing to and calling forth 
into exercise all the complex faculties of our nature. It is the art 
of developing human possibilities. It has to do with the whole of 
man's being. It has reference to the entire end and scope of that 
being. It is clear, therefore, that the science of education must 
draw its data from all that a man is, and from all the relations he is 
to sustain. Its principles are the profoundest and most difficult of 
comprehension. Infinite wisdom and skill are not too much for 
their complete understanding and mastery. 

The art of teaching is among the oldest. Great excellence here 
and there has been attained. Many of its principles have been 
enunciated with great clearness and illustrated by noble examples. 
But we think it is not too much to say that teaching, considered 



40 

either as an art or as a science, is yet in its infancy. It requires 
the largest and most persistent efforts to develop the powers and 
resources of good education. So difficult is it, that, in order to 
make even a beginning on a large scale, the State found it necessary 
to take the matter in hand, hence the numerous statutes for the 
"encouragement of learning" and the "support of schools." 

The difficulty, as well as the importance of teaching well, being 
so great, it is clear that special culture, discipline and training are 
necessary ; and for the same reasons, together with all those con- 
siderations upon which any system of public schools depends, the 
State should see to it that ample means are provided for acquiring the 
necessary preparation. This is precisely what normal schools are for. 

It is not surprising that much of the teaching at present done in 
our schools is unsatisfactory. It must continue to be so till the 
teachers possess more scholarship, more general culture, and more 
special training for their work. We are not now advocating higher 
grades of schools, but a higher order of instruction in the lower 
grades. The education now received in our schools is a poor result 
compared with what might be accomplished if our teachers pos- 
sessed more of the qualifications above named. There might be at 
the same time more thoroughness and more progress. This does 
not necessarily imply that the schools should be taught for longer 
terms, but that better work should be done during the twenty-eight 
or more weeks of annual school teaching. 

The committee desire to have it distinctly understood that they 
do not underestimate the vast good that has been accomplished by 
our common schools in past years. They believe that those schools 
have done more than any other human agency to enlighten the 
people and build up the State. That J^ew York never could have 
attained its present high position without them. But at the same 
time they believe that the schools are capable of accomplishing in- 
calculably more and better results by the application of principles 
and methods developed in the professional schools and applied by 
the trained teachers, than have hitherto been realized. 

We think there is no exaggeration in saying that a teacher who 
understands his business will accomplish more in one year than is ac- 
complished in three years under untrained instruction. Take the sub- 
ject of grammar, as an example. If taught at the proper time and in 
the proper way, pupils might get a more thorough and incomparably 
better knowledge of the subject in one term than is often gained by 



41 

studying it year after year. It is frequently a mere formal thing with 
no interest, no comprehension. All this is true, in spite of faithful 
effort to teach well. The simple truth is that the teacher does not 
know how. We too otten see that instead of learning one thing well, 
and then in an orderly manner advancing to another, and so on with 
increasing facility and delight until numerous fit-Ids of knowledge 
have been intelligently entered, if not explored, with habits of thor- 
ough, discriminating and progressive thinking, all the while taking 
form and force, instead of all this, which is possible and should be 
actual, the pupil goes over and over again the imperfectly learned les- 
sons of former years, making little progress, finding his work very dull, 
and forming careless, superficial habits of thought. The five years of 
one's life that are the best for forming habits and for doing many 
things which all well educated people must do at some time are com- 
paratively lost. It is impossible to estimate the extent of this loss. 
In the course of the same number of years as are now spent in the 
common schools, an education essentially liberal might be acquired, 
orderly habits of thought formed, and principles of things learned 
with a thoroughness and a range altogether exceptional under present 
conditions. Without spending any more time in school, the young 
might be imbued with the love of country, and with the spirit of 
fidelity and loyalty to duty. They might acquire discriminating 
habits of thought with the ability to suspend the judgment until the 
matter in hand is comprehended, thereby avoiding the evils that a 
hasty leaping to conclusions is continually bringing upon society. 
Instruction might be given in history, in civil government, in phy- 
siology, in botany and in the elements of many of tlie sciences. 

Another consequence of improved teaching would be that a 
greater number of children of the State would attend the com- 
mon schools, and those who come would do so more regularly. 
Grood teaching is attractive as well as instructive. It draws pupils 
and holds them. From the report of the superintendent of 
public instruction, it appears that of the 1,586,234 children in the 
State between five and twenty-one years of age, only 1,023,715 at- 
tended the common schools during the year ending Sept. 30, 1877, 
showing that upwards of half a million, or more than one-third of 
the children of the State, did not attend the common schools for any 
length of time during the year. This is doubtless due to many 
causes, but we think it safe to reckon as prominent among them the 
lack of competent teaching. 

When we consider how great and difiicult a thing it is to educate 
6 



42 

one human being to be a citizen of a free State, we are better pre- 
pared to understand the magnitude of thus educating more than 
a million children. To carry on the State government is a much 
easier and less expensive thing than to fit the people to do it wisely. 
A high degree of intelligence and mental discipline is needed, in 
order to enable one to understand fully the rights and duties of citi- 
zenship in a free country. A high degree of moral culture is required 
in order to dispose one properly to exercise those rights and per- 
form those duties. The better the intellectual and moral discipline 
secured in our schools, the better will the citizen be enabled to read 
under standingly the Constitution and the laws of the State, and the 
better will he be able to do his part in enacting and enforcing them. 
The amount of instruction given in our schools should always be 
subordinate to the quality of it, not how much, but how well. Edu- 
cation should be development and discipline, not cramming. It 
should lead to a real acquaintance with those things with which the 
pupils are to be most intimately connected. Beginnings should be 
made that are fitted to be followed by continual progress in after years. 
If the beginnings are against the grain of nature, the progress is 
likely to end when the immediate pressure is removed. When 
nature is consulted at the start, she will not fail to furnish motive 
for continuing. Such an education has in it both the potency and 
the promise of untold advantage to the State, as well as to the indi- 
vidual. It cannot be secured unless teachers have both culture and 
skill — high culture and great skill. For this, normal schools are 
needed. As already suggested, skill in the military art is not more 
necessary than skill in the art of teaching. Military schools are not 
more essential to the one than normal schools to the other. With- 
out trained leaders a mass of men may do considerable damage to 
the enemy, and now and then a man may arise in whom force of 
native genius does much to supply the lack of training. But no 
prudent nation relies upon such military leaders as these, and hence 
the military school has a recognized and undisturbed place in the 
policy of civilized nations. Even as a matter of defense we think 
the public schools will be found to be increasingly important. 
The intelligence, mental training and moral character that have 
been tolerable in a State where its people were few and scattered, 
and the currents of life flowed sluggishly, are incompatible with its 
safety, much less with its advancing welfare, when our industries 
become more diversified and our population more compact, with a 
growing tendency to separate into classes, where the movement of 



48 

events is rapid, and where more complicated problems in quicker 
succession continually demand solution at the hands of the people. 

The State may be enriched and strengthened by a generation of 
men and women trained to more orderly and reliable habits of 
thought, with minds liberalized and ennobled by a better acquaint- 
ance with themselves and the world they live in — with the forces that 
are active about them and the way to co-operate with those forces in 
working out practical ends. We may have a generation that better 
discerns the substantial meaning and worth of things as distinguished 
from their appearance ; that better knows the difference between 
what things are, and what may happen for the time to be thought 
about them. This of itself will help to readjust the industries of 
the world, and to make men satisfied with any honorable calling for 
which they are adapted and qualified. At the same time it will 
generate that worthy ambition which is alwaj^s striving after essen- 
tially better conditions. All this will be done when better, wiser 
teaching becomes the rule in our public schools. 

The committee desire to call attention here to what seems to them 
a very grave mistake into which many have fallen, namely, that of 
supposing that the teacher need be intellectually only a little in ad- 
vance of his pupils, and hence that almost anybody is competent to 
teach young children. This matter of giving tendency, motive and 
habit to the mind during its most formative period, should be in- 
trusted only to wisely skillful hands, for then, as Quintilian says, 
'^ impressions are made which are not easily to be effaced," and the 
mind is like " wool which can never recover its primitive whiteness 
after it has once been dyed." JSTothing is more trite than expres- 
sions of this kind, and yet in practice this much worn truth is far 
from receiving due recognition. We hold that nowhere is there 
need of more essential culture and refinement, or a more versatile 
tact than in the teachers of the primary classes. Such teachers need 
to understand that wondrous development that takes place from 
infancy to maturity, which of our many faculties may be early exer- 
cised and" drawn upon and which awake later. They need that rare 
attainment to look with a child's eyes^ while retaining a man's judg- 
ment in order that they may know what it is reasonable to expect 
of children and how to avoid starving their minds on the one hand, 
and overburdening them on the other. Nowhere will pure, strong 
and high character have a better opportunity to reproduce itself. 



44 
The State of New York should have a well defined 

EDUCATIONAL POLICY. 

It should be the product of sagacious and liberal-minded states- 
manship. It should be pursued without vacillation. Such a policy 
would be the natural outgrowth from the general policy of the State 
in the past. 

Even before the administration of Clinton, there were those who 
saw that New York should adopt a policy with a view to making 
the State the commercial center of the country. Of this general 
policy the so-called canal policy was a part. It has resulted in mak- 
ing New York city the great national emporium, and has built up 
thriving cities, all through the State, from the seaboard to the lake 
shore. These things are the fruits of a policy projected by wise 
statesmanship, understanding the situation and seeking to make the 
most of natural advantages. Under its operation the Empire State 
has attained pre-eminence. What is now required is an equally 
sagacious and foreseeing policy in respect to education, whereby the 
intellectual and moral resources of the State may be as well de- 
veloped as the physical resources have been. Our material wealth 
should lay the foundation for the higher wealth of intelligence 
and character. The State should look steadfastly toward the high- 
est possible culture, both mental and moral, of all the people. 
It should be so firmly settled that no one should dare to assail 
it. Those to whom its carrying out is intrusted should not be com- 
pelled to spend any considerable portion of their energies in 
defending the policy itself from the attacks of the short-sighted, who 
cannot see beyond the immediate future, and of those who cannot 
apprehend any thing except what can be handled and counted. 
Their highest energies have quite enough to do in carrying for- 
ward the work. 

The policy which we recommend is not a new one. It has been 
suggested and urged by the very men who have been foremost in 
establishing our commercial policy, and the material prosperity 
which has grown out of it. Indeed we, at this age of the world, 
do not need to be told that for the highest degree, even of material 
wealth, intelligence and morality in the masses of the people are as 
necessary as fertile soil, or rich mines or navigable water-courses. 

Until very recently, so far as the committee can find, no governor 
of the State has failed to apprehend the importance and true standard 
of popular education. We believe that sagacious and liberal- 



45 

minded statesmanship will never seek to place popular education 
upon a low level, or to circumscribe it within narrow limits. 
We cannot estimate the advantage which every human mind is 
capable of receiving from the right sort of education. New 
York is very far from having attained to the true standard. 
Yet she has never lacked statesmen who had the true idea about it, 
nor forces that have been working toward its attainment. 

It may serve to re-assure the present if we recall the views and 
some of the utterances of a few of the men who have made the 
State what it is. In 1737 when a bill to continue the appropri- 
ation for the maintenance of the public high school was before the 
colonial legislature we note among the majoiity who favored it the 
honored names of Livingston, Morris, Schuyler, Alexander, Yer- 
plank and Rensselaer. William Livingston, in 1753, when the 
colony was considering the matter of founding King's college, says : 
*' The advantages flowing from the rise and improvement of liter- 
ature, are not to be confined to a set of men. They are to extend 
their cheerful influence through society in general, through the whole 
province, and therefore ought to be the peculiar care of the united 
body of the legislature." 

And again, in relation to the same, he says: '* To enumerate all 
the advantages accruing to a country from due attention to the 
encouragement of the means of education is impossible. The 
happy streams issuing from that inexhaustible source are num- 
berless and unceasing. Knowledge among a people makes them 
free, enterprising and dauntless ; but ignorance enslaves, emas- 
culates and depresses them. When men know their rights, they 
will at all hazards defend them, as well against the insidious designs 
of domestic politicians as the undisguised attacks of a foreign 
enemy ; but while the mind remains involved in its native obscu- 
rity it becomes pliable, abject, dastardly and tame ; it swallow^s the 
greatest absurdities, submits to the vilest impositions, and follows 
wherever it is led. * * -^ With submission, therefore, to 
my superiors, I would propose that an act be passed for building 
and establishing two grammar schools in every county, and enabling 
the inhabitants annually to elect guardians over them, and empow- 
ering the assessors to raise fifty pounds per annum, as a county 
charge, for the support of each master, to be nominated and paid 
by those guardians." 

Governor De Witt Clinton, in his annual message in 1819, says : 
*' When it is considered that education is the guardian of liberty 
and the bulwark of morality, and that knowledge and virtue are, 



46 

generally speaking, inseparable companions, and are in the moral, 
what light and heat are in the natural world, the illuminating and 
vivifying principles ; I trust I need no apology in soliciting an 
extension of your patronage to the higher seminaries of education." 
In 1825 he says : " Upon education we must therefore rely for the 
purity, the preservation and the perpetuation of republican govern- 
ment. In this sacred cause we cannot exercise too much liberality." 
In his last animal message to the legislature in 1828 he says : 
" Permit me to solicit your attention to the two extremes of educa- 
tion ; the highest and the lowest, and this I do in order to promote 
the cultivation of those whom nature has gifted with genius, but to 
w^hom fortune has denied the means of education. Let it be your 
ambition, and no ambition can be more laudable, to dispense to the 
obscure, the poor, the humble, the friendless and the depressed, 
the power of rising to usefulness and acquiring distinction. With 
this view, provision might be made for the gratuitous education 
in our colleges of youth, eminent for the talents they have displayed 
and the virtues they have cultivated in the subordinate seminaries. 
This would call into activity all the faculties of genius, all the 
efforts of industry, all the incentives to ambition and all the motives 
to enterprise." 

This is the American idea, it includes all men, and all that there 
is in man, every faculty of body, mind and spirit ; if it finds men on 
a low plane it seeks to raise them, not to keep them there. This 
idea befits both the nature of the republic and the capacity of its 
citizens. In 1835, Governor Marcy, after speaking of the then 
flourishing condition of academies, says, " This gratifying result may 
be ascribed in no inconsiderable degree to the enlarged and liberal 
patronage extended to them by the government." In 1836 he says, 
" Our academies and seminaries of learning are objects of great pub- 
lic interest, and worthy of the fostering care of the government." 
In 1 848, Governor Young says, " While you should leave nothing 
undone to improve the character, and enlarge the sphere of common 
schools, I feel assured that the ability of the State in so far as it can 
be exerted without prejudice to other interests, will be put forth to 
furnish facilities for a higher order of attainment in literature and 
science.'' 

In respect to the higher institutions of learning, he also says, 
" Any abatement of the interest of the State in these institutions is 
to be felt almost exclusively by those who, in their inquiries after 
knowledge, most require the paternal care of the State. By the 
fortunate sons of the affluent it is regarded with entire indifference, 



47 

but to those who are * artificers of their own fortunes,' rowing against 
a current, struggling with poverty, and laboring with their hands 
to procure the means of cultivating their minds, it is matter of 
vital importance. The doctrine that would deny to those institu- 
tions any participation in the moneys from time to tir)ie apjyropri- 
ated hy the State to the cause of education^ would strengthen the 
aristocracy of wealth hy adding to it the aristocracy of letters.'''' 

In 1839, Governor Seward, in his annual message, severely criti- 
cises the low standard of education then prevalent, and the super- 
ficial methods of instruction. He says: " The standard of edu- 
cation ought to be elevated, not merely to that which other States 
or nations have attained, but to that height which may be reached 
by cultivation of the intellectual powers, with all the facilities 
of modern improvements, during the entire period when the 
faculties are quick and active, the curiosity insatiable, the temper 
practicable, and the love of truth supreme. * ^ * Science 
is nothing else than a disclosure of the bounties the Creator has 
bestowed to promote the happiness of man, and a discovery 
of the laws by which mind and matter are controlled for that benig- 
nant end. Literature has no other object than to relieve our cares 
and elevate our virtues. All the associations of the youthful 
mind in the acquisition of knowledge must be cheerful ; its truths 
should be presented in their native beauty, and in their natural 
order ; the laws it reveals should be illustrated always by their 
benevolent adaptation to the happiness of mankind ; and the ability 
and beauty of what is already known should incite to the endless 
investigation of what remains concealed. If education could be 
conducted upon principles like these, the attainments of our collegi- 
ate instruction might become the ordinary acquirement in our com- 
mon schools ; and our academies and colleges would be continually 
enjoying new revelations of that philosophy which enlightens the 
way, and attaining higher perfection in the arts which alleviate the 
cares of human life. If these reflections seem extravagant, and the 
results they contemplate unattainable, it need only be assured that the 
improvability of our race is without limit, and all that is proposed is less 
wonderful than what has already been accomplished. To the stand- 
ard I have indicated, I hesitate not to invite your efforts. Post- 
poned, omitted and forgotten, as it too often is, amid the excite- 
ment of other subjects and the pressure of other duties, education 
is, nevertheless, the chief of our responsibilities. The consequen- 
ces of the most partial improvement in our system of education 
will be wider and more enduring than the efi^ects of any change of 



48 

public policy, the benefits of any new principle of jurisprudence, 
or the results of any enterprise we can accomplish. These conse- 
quences will extend through the entire development of the human 
mind, and be consummated only with its destiny." 

During the period covered by all the foregoing citations the 
committee found no discordant recommendations or suggestions. 
It is only a false kind of education that '' breeds discontent ; " it 
is only a superficial and misdirected kind of education which dis- 
qualifies for one's proper duties and labors. It may safely be as- 
serted that whatever tends to develop, to discipline and to regulate 
all the powers and resources of a man's nature, at the same time 
tends, also, to make him more successful, more nearly what he was 
intended to become, and therefore more rationally contented. A 
true conception of education involves nothing less. True educa- 
tion never makes strikers and rioters, the lack of it sometimes does. 
Common experience and observation of mankind undoubtedly con- 
firm this view, apparently exceptional cases to the contrary not- 
withstanding. 

There is no fixed line between common school and higher educa- 
tion. As better methods of teaching are adopted and better teachers 
employed, more and more will be included in the so-called common 
school course. It is desirable that it should be so. The more edu- 
cation the people have, the better, provided it is of the right sort, 
that is, one which recognizes the child's inborn nature, and seeks only 
to develop it, to put every man in actual possession of his birthright, 
l^othing is more worthy of the ambition of the State than to secure 
such education for all the people. As one of the essential means for 
accomplishing it, the State has wisely established her eight normal 
schools, which are to exercise a double function : First, that of 
disseminating and giving effect in the public schools to the best ideas 
and methods of instruction yet attained ; and, second, that of 
developing still further those ideas and methods. 
All of which is respectfully submitted. 

JOHN I. GILBERT, 
B. GAGE BEKRY, 
CHARLES R. SKINNER, 
JAMES CHAPPELL, 
JACKSON VALENTINE, 
JAMES W. WADSWORTIJ, 
JOSEPH P. MoDONOUGH, 
ARTHUR D. MEAD, 
ORRIS U. KELLOGG. 



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